All good things must come to an end, and in this neck of the woods that can happen very abruptly.
Over the past several weeks nighttime temperatures have dropped into the low 50s. On several occasions, the mercury has plummeted to the low 40s, and according to the calendar it's still summer, could have fooled me.

Despite knowing that our growing season is over, it's still a very exciting and very busy time. Harvesting and preparing the veggies for storage takes on a sense of urgency. Packing our deep freezer with all of the #organic produce we have grown over the past months requires hours of hobbitizing.

First up are the beets, my favorite vegetable

As we unearthed the beets we realized that thinning them as recommended had paid off! With several inches between each plant, the beets we were harvesting were bigger this year than ever before.

Cooking outdoors sure does keep the kitchen clean, which makes @farm-mom very happy.
Beets are one veggie that we don't blanch, (partially cook) but rather cook them fully to our desired taste. Mushy beets are the worst. Before boiling them, the beets are separated according to size, which insures that when one is done the others are done as well.

When they are properly cooked the skin of the beet can be removed with little effort.
It's important to cool down the beets after taking them out of the boiling water. This is done by placing them in an ice bath for several minutes. If this is not done, the beets will continue to cook resulting in a soft beet. After slicing them, they are vacuum sealed and placed into the deep freezer. We ended up with 22 pounds of beets. Storing them in this fashion will keep them good for up to a year.

The carrots are also prepared for storage pretty much the same way.The only difference is that they are blanched,(not fully cooked). Blanching is a must for almost all vegetables to be frozen. Blanching stops enzyme actions which can cause loss of flavor, color, and texture. Blanching time is crucial and varies with the vegetable and size. Carrots are blanched for 3 minutes and placed in an ice bath for the same amount of time. Because they are so juicy, we first freeze them in sandwich bags. Then they are transferred into the vacuum bags and vacuum sealed. In the past, we have tried to vacuum seal them after slicing them, but because of all of the moisture, the seal is compromised.

The one veggie that we don't grow is corn. We've tried, but have never had much luck. We purchase corn from a local farmer and have done so for six years now. Buying 10 dozen ears of corn and preparing them for the months ahead takes several days. This year one of our sons came to visit and needless to say we made him earn his keep. 😁 Husking 120 ears can be laborious. Most of the corn is cut from the cobb, making niblets. This year we kept 24 ears of corn on the cobb. With winter just around the corner, eating corn on the cob throughout the cold months will remind us of warmer days.

Just the other day while we were doing some groceries shopping I looked at the price of a can of

The price was ridiculous, 7oz for $1.59. The amount of corn in a 7oz can can't be much more than one ear of corn. We paid $5.00 for a dozen ears. That would work out to be 12 cans of corn for 0.42 cents per can. 12 cans bought at the supermarket would cost $19.08, and it would not taste as good, and who the heck could afford it?

Everyone in the Northeast knows that apple picking is in full swing in October, so I decide to pick the apples from our two apple trees. The trees we planted six years ago have been grafted and are supposed to bear five different kinds of apples. Picking them didn't take too long. I've been keeping a watchful eye on all four apples that were growing, two on each tree. Within a few days, two out of the four apples had been devoured by ants. We lost 50% of this year's harvest and that frosted my backside. Two apples in total are not enough to make an apple pie or apple sauce but after six years of waiting it felt pretty good harvesting something. 👍 Both apples were Yellow Delicious and delicious they were.

If you believe in compounding interest apples, by the year 2029 the trees should have 256 apples hanging from their branches.

As Porky Pig would say,

At the end of every growing season, I clean out all of the vegetable beds, prepping them for the next growing season. When I started to weed the first bed, I barely noticed this frog that was hiding in the weeds I was about to remove. I guess he realized that I was not going to do any harm and stayed put as I removed some of the vegetation from around him. #Mother #Nature does a splendid job camouflaging these little critters.

The branches I use to stake the tomatoes are saved for the following year.

This year the hop vines that I left, produced lots of hops. One of these years I hope to get back to making some homebrew, so it's good to see the hop vines still thriving. The vines will be left in place until next year as the dying vines and foliage send energy back to the hop rhizomes.

After two days of weeding this GIF says it all.

For those who live in the southern hemisphere, I wish you all the luck in the world with whatever it is that you decide to plant and nurture along. I'll be waiting patiently to see what you've got going on, as our winter moves in and your growing season goes into overdrive.

Grow them big
grow them strong
grow them naturally
grow them long
despite the pests some of which build nests
keep it kind
and don't be blind to the #WEB of life
for every action, there is a reaction.